This invention relates to the treatment of occluded blood vessels, and in particular to the location and display of occluded portions of vessels on 3-D angiographic images.
Three dimensional angiographic is a valuable imaging technique in which contrast agent is introduced into the subject's vasculature and a three dimensional image of the vasculature is made with an appropriate imaging system such as an x-ray or MR imaging system. Three dimensional angiography provides an accurate image of the vasculature that among other things reveals occluded portions of the vasculature, which, because of the occlusion, contain little or no contrast agent, and thus are not as visible in the resulting angiogram.
With the advent of remote navigation techniques for navigating medical devices through a subject's vasculature, angiograms are used for planning and conducting vascular navigation. However the gaps in angiograms caused by occlusions impair the use of angiograms for planning and conducting navigations. This is particularly true in the treatment of vascular occlusions because to navigate successfully through an occluded vessel, for example to remove the occlusion, it is important to know the location of the vessel.